Illinois Same-Sex Marriage Roundup: NAACP Supports Marriage Equality; Republicans Not Rushing To Join Kirk

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 13, 2013 7:00PM

- Black lawmakers in Springfield may be apprehensive to embrace marriage equality, but the NAACP has an entirely different position. The national organization, which embraced same-sex marriage a year ago, announced its support for pending marriage equality legislation in the Illinois House. Illinois State Conference President George P. Mitchell said "The fight for freedom and equality encompasses all mankind."

- Of course, most Republicans are still publicly against the legislation and tripping over their words in the process. Palatine state Rep. Tom Morrison responded to an email from a constituent asking him to reconsider his stance on marriage equality thusly:

"Could a man marry a consenting 9-year old girl? Why not? To refuse them would be discrimination. Again, where would you draw the line?"

The woman who wrote Morrison the email, Kathy Betts, said she was "speechless" by Morrison's reply. Morrison told the Sun-Times he wasn't comparing same-sex marriage to statutory rape. "Am I imperfect in my wording? Yeah, if I could rewrite an email, if I knew that it would be offensive, yeah. I'm opposed to the redefinition of marriage."

- Jim Oberweis is continuing his Sisyphean effort to remove Pat Brady as Illinois GOP chairman. Oberweis told the Daily Herald the state central committee would soon conduct interviews on potential candidates to succeed Brady, but it's unsure if the votes are there to remove him. Brady has come under fire from Oberweis for his support of marriage equality. Oberweis has a different viewpoint entirely on Sen. Mark Kirk's recent support of same-sex marriage, however. He said there was enough room in the party for different beliefs.

- Kirk's reversal on marriage equality doesn't have other Republicans in Illinois' congressional delegation coming forward. Congressmen Peter Roskam, Adam Kinzinger, John Shimkus, Randy Hultgren and Rodney Davis all re-emphasized their opposition to marriage equality. Rep. Aaron Schock's office didn't return several requests for comment from Buzzfeed, but has stated his opposition to the issue in the past.